CreativePro Forum

Return to Member Forum

• Author
  Posts
• • May 12, 2015 at 9:10 am #75298
    Melise Gerber

    Member

    I work for a firm in the architectural/construction industry. We are in the process of implementing a CRM database system that will contain information about all of our projects, which can then be used to create resumes and project sheets in InDesign, using the merge feature. In order to access this feature, I create an InDesign “template” document with the appropriate field identifiers (provided by the CRM database system), and then upload an idml file to the database.

    I am setting up the templates for this process, and have run into a strange problem that I can’t seem to resolve. Our resume format includes a box on the right side of the page that includes information about education, licensing, certifications, etc. I have set up a text box that auto-resizes as it is filled with the information from the database.

    The problem is that when I create the merged document, for some reason, I end up with a giant curly bracket overlaying all of the information in the sidebar box. It seems to be related to the education information, because if I delete the information about the colleges attended, the bracket goes away.

    I have done everything I can think of to troubleshoot this. I am the only person in my office that uses InDesign, but one of the people who work for the database company used my merge document and didn’t get a curly bracket on her final version. I have checked it in story editor, and can’t see anything there. I have tried creating a text box that doesn’t resize. I created a merge document that only imports the educational information, and it doesn’t have the curly bracket. I have recreated the content in my database to ensure there aren’t any stray characters there. I even did a clean reinstall of InDesign to see if that would solve the problem.

    Just wondering if anyone out there has ever seen anything like this and might be able to shed some light on this strange problem.

    I don’t know if this forum will accept URLs, but just in case, I have posted the InDesign files and a PDF of the final curly bracket document here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8CRXnzzu9_hfk1aVjl3MDA3eS0yeHRVNWt4ZlVwVlliVXB5U0wwakFiOU1nbXEwaDNneEk&usp=sharing

    If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them!

  • May 12, 2015 at 9:50 am #75300
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    That is officially a truly weird problem.
    Do you see the curly bracket on screen? I don’t see it when I open your INDD file. So it occurs to me that maybe it’s a font on your system. (That still doesn’t really make sense, but I’m stretching here.)
    The other thing that doesn’t make sense to me is why this information is on the master page of the document, instead of the document page.

  • May 12, 2015 at 10:34 am #75301
    Melise Gerber

    Member

    When I open the merged document in InDesign, I see the curly bracket on my screen, just like it shows on the PDF. Like I said, the database staff member who tested the template didn’t see the curly bracket on her screen either–so, I will try using a different font in the template and see if that makes a difference. Weird, but if it solves the problem…

    As for why the information is on the master page? Probably because I put it there, and I am a complete newbie when it comes to creating merge documents. When I originally created the document, I had the standard text boxes on the master pages, and the resizing sidebar box on the first page master page, but all of the merge fields were placed on the document pages.

    But, I kept going into the original files and making changes as part of this troubleshooting, and I realized that sometimes I was making the edits on the master pages, and sometimes I was making the edits on the document pages. I wanted to confirm that this problem had nothing to do with whether the items were on the master or document pages, so I randomly decided to put everything on the master pages for consistency. If you suggest putting merge fields on document pages as a best practice, I am completely fine with that. It didn’t really make a difference to me–as I said, I am the only one in the office who uses Indd, so I know that I know how to override master page items. :-)

  • May 12, 2015 at 10:38 am #75302
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    No worries. Yes, in general put things that show up on all pages on the master page (such as logos, or page numbers). Text and graphics and anything that changes from page to page should be on the document page. If you figure out what the problem is, come back and let us know. Wacky…

  • May 12, 2015 at 11:56 am #75314
    Melise Gerber

    Member

    Okay, some updates. I tried changing the font and that didn’t fix the problem. But, in stumbling around while testing that, I discovered another element to the problem.

    The only time I see the curly bracket in that sidebar box is when the box’s height is at 4.355 inches and above. If I turn off auto-resize, and manually increase the height of the box, I can increase it to 4.354 inches and I don’t see the curly bracket. But if I add that additional 1 thousandth of an inch and boom–BRACKET!

    One last bit of information–I am working on a Windows-based system. David, I think you use a Mac, right? And the woman who tested it for me before is also using a Mac. If there is anyone else out there using the Windows version of Indd, I would love to see if they ended up with a curly bracket or not.

    Anyway…if the information about the box height sparks any other thoughts, I would love to hear them.

  • May 13, 2015 at 8:51 am #75335
    Melise Gerber

    Member

    Final update…just for those curious types. I contacted Adobe support and they figured out that it was a problem with a plug-in I had installed. Deleted the plug-in and no more curly bracket. I will be reaching out to the makers of the plug-in to let them know so that they can try and troubleshoot.

    • May 13, 2015 at 10:17 am #75337
      Dwayne Harris

      Member

      Thanks for the update. Can you tell us the name of the plug-in? It might help to know in case someone else has the same problem.

  • May 13, 2015 at 1:06 pm #75339
    Melise Gerber

    Member

    It is the Recipe Design Wizard (www.recipedesignwizard.com) plug-in.

    I installed it recently for use with some personal work I have coming up, but hadn’t had the opportunity to use it yet. As far as I know, it works exactly as intended-and there might even be a way to turn it “off” when I am not creating a document that needs that bracket. I plan on reviewing the users manual, and might actually try reinstalling it later.

  • May 19, 2015 at 3:54 pm #75490
    Herb Weiner

    Participant

    I am the author of the Recipe Design Wizard Plug-In. magerber contacted me by email last Wednesday (May 13), and I replied within 1 hour. She sent me a copy of the document, and I gave her instructions for removing the adornment (curly brace) without the need to uninstall the Plug-In, and verified that my instructions worked on her document. Because she was busy last week, I was waiting to hear back from her regarding whether I resolved her problem, but I have not yet heard back from her. I’m not sure what caused the adornment (curly brace) to appear in her document, but this is the first report I’ve received of this problem.

    The Recipe Design Wizard Plug-In has been available since InDesign CS was first released, and I have always provided prompt support for all users. Recipe Design Wizard was reviewed in InDesign Magazine #15, December 2006 | January 2007, Page 50. Last year, I changed the pricing of this Plug-In to make it available to all Creative Cloud users at no charge, and I still provide free support.

    As far as I know, Recipe Design Wizard is the only solution available for any platform that supports such an innovative approach to formatting recipes. Refer to https://www.recipedesignwizard.com for a PDF sample, as well as a brief video demonstration.

  • June 3, 2015 at 10:57 am #75804
    Linda Bergeron Szefer

    Member

    Herb,

    Same problem here, the curly brace shows up inside a text box containing fractions. How do you correct this without removing the plug-in?

    Here’s a link to an example of the problem.

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5070024/Right%20Bracket%20Problem%20Folder.zip

  • August 18, 2016 at 1:55 pm #87603
    Gavin Anderson

    Participant

    I also get the curly bracket when I export to IDML, and I have RDW installed, so I’d be curious of an answer, too. For now, I’ll uninstall that plugin, to hopefully resolve the problem.

  • August 18, 2016 at 2:17 pm #87604
    Gavin Anderson

    Participant

    Just a follow-up to confirm. Uninstalling RDW cleared up my curly brackets problem in IDML files, too. I’d still like to use the plugin, so I look to hearing from Herb how to resolve without uninstalling.

• Author
  Posts